It's Suddenly More Likely You Have High Blood Pressure

posted by John Johnson -

Nov 14, 2017

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The powers that be in the world of health have changed the standards on high blood pressure, and the upshot is that a significantly larger number of Americans are now at risk. As of now, anyone with a reading of 130 over 80 is considered to have high blood pressure, down from 140 over over 90, reports the Washington Post. Under the old standard, 32% of Americans had high blood pressure. Now, 46% of the nation qualifies.

The good news is that only a relative handful of the new people in the category would need medication—the APestimates that number is only 2% of them. Instead, health authorities want to flag the problem earlier for people and get them to make lifestyle changes in terms of diet, exercise, booze, smoking, etc.